Hi all...my name is Linda and I live in Schertz, TX (by San Antonio). I am retired. I was recently diagnosed with COPD from smoking so many years ago. I quit 18 years ago when I had an accident. I was in a wheelchair for months (no weight bearing on my legs). I was very athletic then and in the best shape of my life; this is probably what saved my life. Before I was out of the wheelchair I had gained nearly 50 lbs. Because of the injuries I could not exercise like before. It was hard enough to walk. The #s just kept coming on. It did not take long to gain 80#s (within a year). My cousin, who is an RN, told me I was lucky to survive the fat embolism (which collapsed my lungs). It was a very long recovery. My cousin told me that since I was so very athletic and all of a sudden was completely sedentary my metabolism had shut down and everything I ate turned to fat. This made sense to me.

Here I am from 110#s when the accident happened to 267 now. Like most of you probably I have tried everything to lose. I think I own most of the diet books in the store. I considered Atkins a while back but bought in to the propoganda that Atkins was unhealthy. What Dr. Atkins said though really always made sense to me.

When I was a child this is the way we ate and you did not see fat people then...and never a child! Now obesity is an epidemic. It is up to all of us to try and be an example for this Way of Eating. There are other diets out there which are good if they work for you. I personally am a carb addict and Atkins makes it easier to deal with by teaching us.

I look forward to getting to know others here. Fatsecret is really a good program to keep track of what we eat and meet others in the same situation.